Northwest Herald from Woodstock, Illinois • Page 24

Page 8 SPORTS NORTHWEST HERALD Thursday, June 29, 1989 3B5EBEMSE DAILY DOW CLOSING Economic indicators plunge Percent change, seasonally adjusted index (1982- 100) I 1.5 Big drop NEW YORK -The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials dropped 21.63 to 2,504.74. Declining issues outnumbered advances by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 482 up, 984 down and 485 unchanged. By JOHN O. McCLAIN The Associated Press WASHINGTON The government reported Wednesday that its chief eco-' nomic forecasting gauge plunged last month, taking the deepest dip since the 1987 stock market crash. But many analysts remained confident the economy is not being steered into a recession.

The 1.2 percent decline in the Index of Leading Economic Indicators was the steepest since a 1.8 percent dropoff in November 1987, the Commerce Department reported. The drop in 1987 reflected the shock from the 508-point plunge in the Dow Jones index of 30 industrial stocks on Oct. 19, 1987. Many analysts were expecting a decline although perhaps not as steep and said it was consistent with the "Although the numbers came in a bit lower than expected, I still think the Fed is on track for a soft landing," said David Wyss, senior financial economist of Data Resources in Lexington, Mass. However, analysts such as Wyss and Lawrence Chimerine, senior economic adviser for the WEFA Group in Bala Cynwyd, also expressed concern that the Fed not overtighten its grip on the economy.

"While again I think we'll avoid a recession, certainly we'll have to watch the next couple of months very carefully," Chimerine said. There have been signs recently that the Fed has been easing interest rates, and some economists anticipate further easing as the economy continues to slow. so-called soft landing sought by the Federal Reserve as it seeks to stem inflation by slowing the economy without driving it into recession. The index is designed to foretell economic activity six to nine months into the future. At the White House, spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said of the drop: "The economy is healthy and growing at a slower pace, which means less pressure on inflation and interest rates.

We still think that the economy is in very good shape." Undersecretary of Commerce Michael R. Darby told reporters: "I think the Federal Reserve has been aiming at more moderate growth and it has been successful in achieving that this spring." Other economists agreed. 0.1 0 0, it- JH. "I -1 .0 1 praff" Daily stock listings on page 6C BUSINESS DIGEST OND FMAMJJ AS ONDJ FMAM 1987 '88 '89 AP U.S. Dept.

ol Commerce Gunshots ring out as strikes continue Ml1Iiiujjil. ff jjjii, i I "The use of crimi- nal activity by eitheV side of the conflict in our coal field is an intolerable response to labor-management problems." Gaston Caperton By T.J. SIMONEAUX The Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. -Gunshots rang out Wednesday in the coal fields of Virginia and West Virginia, ending a lull in wildcat walkouts by at least 37,000 miners in seven states who ignored a federal judge's order to refrain from strike activities. Hundreds of United Mine Workers members from six states clogged Virginia roads used by coal truckers for Pittston Coal Group the company at the heart of the wildcat sympathy strikes.

Four coal trucks were peppered with gunfire in West Virginia and Virginia, police said. No injuries were reported and no arrests were made. Gov. Gaston Caperton, who has tried to bring Pittston and the United Mine Workers together for talks, reiterated that state police would investigate all reported violence and make arrests when possible. "The use of criminal activity by Scott J.

Brooks The Northwest Herald either side of the conflict in our coal field is an intolerable re-, sponse to labor-management problems," he said. The governors of Illinois, Pennsylvania and Missouri also called for Pittston and the UMW to return to the bargaining "I share West Virginia Gov. Gaston Caperton's confidence that, once assembled, the collective wisdom of the parties will prevail and a fair resolution can be found," Illinois Gov. James R. A bulldozer digs a hole to bury debris during demolition work at Meadowdale Shopping Center in this photo taken one month ago.

It's business as usual despite demolition work Time meeting to go on NEW YORK A Delaware judge refused to block a Time Inc. shareholders meeting set for Friday, indicating he preferred to focus on an upcoming hearing that might decide the outcome of the three-way takeover struggle for the media giant. Chancery Court Judge William T. Allen on Wednesday refused to issue a temporary restraining order in a suit brought by several major Time shareholders. The meeting originally was called for June 23 for shareholders to vote on Time's planned stock-swap merger with Warner Communications Inc.

It was rescheduled after Paramount Communications Inc. announced its $10.7 billion takeover bid for Time. Univited guests feared TOKYO The president of Koito Manufacturing Co. said he was worried gangsters might disrupt the company's annual meeting, at which American investor T. Boone Pickens Jr.

plans to assert his rights as a shareholder. The National Police Agency says 5,358 police are being sent to shareholders' meetings scheduled Thursday across Japan to deal with "so-kaiya," racketeers who regularly disrupt such meetings, trying to extract payoffs from management to keep silent. Pickens owns 20.2 percent of Koito's stock, making him the largest shareholder in the auto lighting manufacturer that has close ties to Toyota Motor Corp. Farm policy changes WASHINGTON The nation's 60-year-old farm-policy pendulum is swinging away from reliance on government toward the free market, a private study says. The study, released Wednesday by Washington consultants Lesher, Russell and Moos for the Policy Working Group, said agriculture is "a much more integral part of the national economy" today than 60 years ago.

Cities' growth slows NEW YORK Growth in some big U.S. cities appears to have slowed but the economies of several metropolitan areas across the country are maintaining momentum, according to a study. The accounting firm Grant Thornton said Wednesday its index of seven economic vital signs for two dozen U.S. metropolitan areas registered a negative reading in this year's first quarter. It was only the second time in 17 quarters that the growth yardstick has pointed downward.

Banc One aids bailout WASHINGTON Banc One Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, agreed Wednesday to take over 20 failed banks of MCorp, a Dallas holding company, in what analysts believe will be the third largest commercial bank rescue in the nation's history. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced that Banc One will be the new owner of the MCorp banks but refused to discuss details of the transaction before a news conference on Thursday. However, private analysts believe the deal will involve a federal infusion of about $2 billion.

See STRIKE, page 7 Japan agrees to open cellular phone market By SUZANNE STEPHAN The Northwest Herald CARPENTERSVILLE Demolition of nearly 200,000 square feet of the Meadow-dale Shopping Center did not hamper business for the remaining merchants. Workers at the Carpentersville Post Office, New Hunan Restaurant, Fish Food Pantry 'and Compton's Cleaners reported that operations remain normal while 10 shops in the north end of the 25 retail center on Illinois Route 25 were demolished last month. "We have had several inquiries if we are still open for business since the north side looks closed," said Carpentersville Postmaster Mary Klein. "But once people knew we were open, business remained the same." The post office, located in a free-standing building on the northernmost end of the center, will be razed next year and a new building will be constructed next to the Fashionation store. New Hunan, Fish Food Pantry and Compton's Cleaners, three of the six remaining spaces in the north end, will be demolished in September.

The tenants will relocate to vacant suites in the south end of the center in July or August. The demolition began May 1 and was completed June 10, said Frank Scarpelli, Meadowdale Shopping Center manager. All of the demolished suites were vacant except for the Mexican food store La Escon-dida, which movede to the south end of the center. The shops were razed so mall managers can build to suit future tenants. So far no new merchants have signed leases with Meadowdale managers, Scarpelli said.

Edward Louie, owner of New Hunan, said the construction slowed business in the beginning, but the lull did not last. The Chinese restaurant abuts the vacant area caused by the demolition. New Hunan will relocate next to Shanders Bakery in the south end of the center. Chong Yum, owner of Compton's Cleaners, said business remained the same through the construction work. His business is moving next door to Aldi Foods in the southern end of the center.

Ruth Merriam, publicity chairman for Fish Food Pantry, also said business remained the same during the construction. Fish Food Pantry is a charity organization that distributes' food and clothing to needy Dundee Township residents. By JAY ARNOLD The Associated Press WASHINGTON Japan agreed to open the multibillion-dollar Tokyo marketplace to U.S. cellular telephone manufacturers' and to loosen restraints on business radios after the Bush administration threatened retaliation against Japanese electronics imports, it was announced Wednesday. The agreement, which focused on Motorola attempts to extend its cellular business into the lucrative Tokyo-Nagoya region, averts a showdown on July 10, when the United States said it was prepared to slap tariffs of as much as 100 percent on more than 50 Japanese imports unless the Motorola matter was settled.

U.S. Trade Representative Car-la Hills, who announced the agreement after high-level talks here with officials representing Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, said she hoped the settlement "will be a precedent for the entire telecommunications market in Japan." The United States had a trade deficit with Japan of about $52 billion last year, and the Motorola problem became a test of how new Japanese Prime Minister So-suke Uno would treat the festering U.S. -Japan trade issue. The' agreement affects cellular See PHONES, page 7 Young workers have low esteem for blue-collar jobs "Young people grow up in a world in which manufacturing is a totally alien environment." Jay Wilson By KENNETH ESKEY Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON Blue-collar jobs have lost so much luster that some young workers would rather flip hamburgers than run machinery in a manufacturing plant for twice the pay. That's one of the findings in an otherwise upbeat report issued Wednesday by the National Association of Manufacturers.

A survey of 2,230 small manufacturers found that skilled job applicants are in short supply and that most of those who can read, reason and He's rescuing her from hell." Roland Sutton, president of Maine Machine Products, says high schools make hiring difficult by steering students away from blue-collar work. "Guidance counselors are our biggest problem," he says. Marcus Griffith, who operates the Harrlox Co. in Washington, says he can't keep mechanics because young people with skills prefer to work for the federal government, which offers better benefits. He noted that four of his best workers are currently in prison for drug dealing.

FCC gets new chief WASHINGTON President Bush has tapped Alfred C. Sikes, a Commerce Department official who is a former broadcaster from Missouri, to become the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. If confirmed by the Senate, Sikes would succeed Dennis R. who announced in April his intention to resign pending confirmation of his successor. compute have little interest in factory work.

"Young people grow up in a world in which manufacturing is a totally alien environment," said Jay Wilson, president of Steeltin Can Corp. in Baltimore. "It's noisy. It's not air-conditioned. It's more fun joking around with your friends in a fast- food restaurant." Wilson said the message young people get from society and from movies like 'An Officer and a Gentleman" is that industrial plants are terrible places to earn a living: "At the end of the movie, the hero comes into the plant in his naval officer's uniform and carries his girl away from all that.

Amfrak workers threaten to picket Value of contract commitments by U.S. partners in Chinese ventures; actual number oi ventures in parentheses. In millions of dollars $116 $37 VM HP asking all its employees for higher deductibility for health care insurance because of sharp increases in medical costs. "I think we're a long way from a strike," Martin said. She added that railroad officials expect the picketing to cause no disruptions in service.

Martin said the company has been negotiating with the unions separately for several months, with both sides apply By DAVID BRISCOE Th Associated Press WASHINGTON Unions representing 25,000 Amtrak workers said they will picket train stations or hold rallies in 25 cities Friday against the passenger rail service, which they accused of courting a national strike." An Amtrak spokeswoman said the situation was "a long way from a strike." Talks between the railroad spokesman for the Railway Labor Executives' Association, which represents the unions. A union statement said, "Amtrak is courting a national strike." The unions said they would protest "substandard wages, unsafe and unsanitary working conditions, contracting out and outright union-busting." Amtrak spokeswoman Sue Martin denied that the company is trying to destroy any of its unions. She said the railroad is and its 16 unions are at various stages more than a year after a moratorium on wage negotiations ended in April 1988. The last wage agreements were signed in 1986. Union leaders say they are being asked to take pay and benefit cuts amounting to up to 20 percent at a time when Amtrak revenue is improving and ridership is at record levels.

"The picketing Friday will be a warning to Congress and the public," said Ed Wytkind, winilTiiiiiifftl 1979-82 .1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 i3U( ing ior ieaeral mediation some of the talks. 'Not actum aoiiars spent ana aoes not include more that 1 billion in contracts bv U.S. on companies for exploration and production during tlte 1979-88 period Source: U.S.-Cruna Business Council.